gareth reynolds

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There is nothing like an election to concentrate the mind on what our esteemed politicians believe we need to be thinking about for the future. Whether it is the economy or the NHS, defence or education, the smart money seems to be on a coalition again, it is just the permutations of who will court […]

Sipp provider Curtis Banks plans to float on the AIM stock exchange in a move expected to value the business at £85m. The firm, which started trading in 2009 and currently administers more than 26,000 Sipps, expects to raise £7.5m through the issue of new equity. Trading in the shares is due to commence on […]

At least three leading Sipp providers would fail to meet the new capital adequacy requirements if they took effect today. Attivo, LV= and Rowanmoor would all meet less than 100 per cent of the capital requirements under the controversial rules, which are due to come into force in September 2016. Under the new rules, providers will be required […]

Mo wakes me at 6am because one of my New Year’s resolutions was to rise half an hour earlier. Using silent mode, she tells me: “we’ve had an upgrade”. I have learnt the difference between “we” and “I”. “We” means Mo and 200 million similar devices, the data cloud they link to and the AIs […]

This year threatens to be a challenging one for UK dividend hunters. Last year saw an all-time record amount paid out in UK dividends — some £97.4bn, according to research from Capita Dividend Monitor. Yet as Capita also pointed out, out the biggest single factor driving the growth in the fourth quarter of last year was easy to identify: the rising US dollar.

In our view, this trend is much more than simply a one-quarter phenomenon. It is actually the most profound issue to get right as a UK equity income investor in 2015. We believe that the US dollar will continue to strengthen significantly from its current level. This is due more to the US economy’s demonstrable de-coupling from the rest of the world than to a view on the UK. The US has a strong chance of tightening monetary conditions this year without jeopardising growth or de-stabilising its housing market. The same can unfortunately not be said about the UK.